What Irked You Today?

[Danno]

I'm irked by sweeping generalizations about "intelligent" people. Having a higher-than-average IQ doesn't necessarily indicate a lack of social aptitude, any more than being a gifted musician correlates with liking cheese.

I know plenty of stupid people who are also completely, totally, socially inept.

Agreed. Actually, I'm irked by sweeping, usually ignorant, generalizations about any type or group of people.

[peekay]

Agreed. Actually, I'm irked by sweeping, usually ignorant, generalizations about any type or group of people.

I'm OK with sweeping, it's leaf-blowers I really don't like.

[Danno]

I'm OK with sweeping, it's leaf-blowers I really don't like.

Because they blow they're full of hot air and they whine all the time.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Danno

[Tom Geiger]

I'm OK with sweeping, it's leaf-blowers I really don't like.

Oh the irony! Right now I can hear the constant drone of my neighbor behind me's friggin leaf vacuum! It's been constant since I've gotten up this morning. The guy is a yard nut and will run this thing without break until there is no leaf anywhere. The amazing part is that the leaves have barely started to fall.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Oh the irony! Right now I can hear the constant drone of my neighbor behind me's friggin leaf vacuum! It's been constant since I've gotten up this morning. The guy is a yard nut and will run this thing without break until there is no leaf anywhere. The amazing part is that the leaves have barely started to fall.

Something my tiny little mind is incapable of grasping: instead of noisy, fuel-burning, polluting, 2-stroke leaf vacuums and blowers, why not get a little firggin exercise and use a broom and a rake? Works fine for me.

Save the environment a little unnecessary stress, keep your body a touch healthier, and avoid paying the LA Fitness bill, fuel for the machines, and repairs when they break.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

Hola.

I just found that my friggin cell phone outgoing message has been changed to SPANISH, and the menu for retrieving messages and changing settings has also been changed to Spanish.

WTF ?? Is this still an English speaking nation ?? Did I miss something?? And why is this even possible ?? It's not like everyone bent over backwards to make things bi-lingual for MY GERMAN ANCESTORS when they came over here. So what's up with making everything happy-happy for immigrants who can't speak THIS COUNTRY'S language now?? I mean, I don't go to other countries and expect everyone there to speak MY language to accommodate me, so what's up with MY country not expecting PEOPLE WHO WANT TO LIVE HERE TO LEARN THE DAMM LANGUAGE ??

And frankly, most of the Kenyans, Russians, Swedes, Chinese, West Africans, Indians, Danes and about any other immigrants I meet speak better English than half of the native-born Americans I know. What's up with the preferential treatment given to the Spanish speakers??

And what the hola is the deal with changing language settings on my phone with zero input from me??

More idiocy.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[bobthehobbyguy]

Ace I have to wonder did your phone get hacked either that or a practical joke.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Ace I have to wonder did your phone get hacked either that or a practical joke.

Can't really see how it can be a "practical joke" as that would take access to the phone and that's just not possible.

[bobthehobbyguy]

Then the other possibility is the phone was hacked. Did you check to see if the provider made the change?

[Joe Handley]

Had somebody in a Hyundai cut myself and the minivan next to me off on a 3 lane stretch of road then slow down to a near stop to pull into a parking lot..........granted, there was a Portillo's on that property, but still.........

[Danny Lectro]

Can't really see how it can be a "practical joke" as that would take access to the phone and that's just not possible.

Your mobile provider may be different, but with all the mobile providers I know of, you don't need access to the phone. If somebody calls your cell phone, and knows your access code, they can listen to your messages and change your settings. Did you happen to leave your voicemail access code on the provider's default, or leave it unsecured?

[Danno]

Can't really see how it can be a "practical joke" as that would take access to the phone and that's just not possible.

You should live here, Ace. An incredible percentage of signs, advertisements, billboards, and printed matter is in Spanish. There are areas of the metro area where you can drive for blocks without seeing any English. MVD provider "readers" to read the the driving test in Spanish for those entitled drivers who WON'T read, write, or speak/hear English to get a driver license.

As an aside, we've had a number of 'wrong-way' head-on crashes on our interstate highways (almost one or two each week for months), wherein drivers were traveling the wrong way at freeway speeds and clobbered innocent drivers. An inordinate percentage were illegal immigrants, many of whom were intoxicated and some of whom had been deported multiple times before. None of them would speak/read/write English. All the "Wrong Way" signs are printed in English.

I agree, Ace, English is this country's language. It's deplorable that the second choice for so many phone and message systems in the USA is English.

I might add (before the flame throwers crank up) that I am not xenophobic or anti-immigration. I am very pro LEGAL immigration. Legal immigrants who WANT to live in the United States and assimilate into our culture and country are welcome. But they can't accomplish assimilation into the land of their "dreams" by refusing to speak English. If they want to live in an exclusively Spanish-speaking culture, they should return to such a country. And, part of assimilation into the USA is speaking English, becoming citizens through legal process, and NOT running around waving their old flag when they want to demand MORE freebies from our government. Millions of honest, hard-working, wonderful immigrants from many countries have done it the right way for generations.

I am anti-illegal immigration, just as I am anti-burglary, anti-trespassing, and anti-other criminal activity.

[Agent G]

^ What he said ^

Some of my closest friends started their lives in another country. They and their loved ones are here for a reason.

Where else but the United States can an old fat Jew regularly break bread with Kurdish Muslims eh?

[91blaze]

Sorry to burst your bubble guys, but America does not have an official language. Some states do have their own official language, however, that is only for things such as legal matters and road signs. As for immigrants, I must agree with Danno.

http://answers.usa.gov/system/templates/selfservice/USAGov/#!portal/1012/article/3206/Official-Language-of-the-US

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_official_languages_by_state#U

[Harry P.]

I've noticed most "intelligent" people have no common sense

Most? I disagree. Intelligence and common sense are not mutually exclusive.

[Harry P.]

BTW... careful with the political rants, guys.

Where else but the United States can an old fat Jew regularly break bread with Kurdish Muslims eh?

Canada?

[oldnslow]

You're right Harry, some intelligent people do, but most of the ones I've had dealings with don't and aren't aware that there's a difference.

[Harry P.]

You're right Harry, some intelligent people do, but most of the ones I've had dealings with don't and aren't aware that there's a difference.

Maybe you're dealing with the wrong people...

[High octane]

Illegal immigrants are CRIMINALS, and should be treated as such.

[Harry P.]

Guys... last warning about the political stuff.

[unclescott58]

What irked me today? Started back with working with the kids last week. Overall, this is great. But, somewhere along the line, I caught a cold. Bad enough, that I spent the whole day in bed. No fun. But, it did me a lot of good. I'm starting to feel better. And should be ready to good to work in the morning.

Scott

[Harry P.]

What irked me today? Started back with working with the kids last week.

What do you mean? How do you work with kids?

[Joe Handley]

Give it time, your immune system should be working at peak efficiency before too long

[my80malibu]

You should live here, Ace. An incredible percentage of signs, advertisements, billboards, and printed matter is in Spanish. There are areas of the metro area where you can drive for blocks without seeing any English. MVD provider "readers" to read the the driving test in Spanish for those entitled drivers who WON'T read, write, or speak/hear English to get a driver license.

As an aside, we've had a number of 'wrong-way' head-on crashes on our interstate highways (almost one or two each week for months), wherein drivers were traveling the wrong way at freeway speeds and clobbered innocent drivers. An inordinate percentage were illegal immigrants, many of whom were intoxicated and some of whom had been deported multiple times before. None of them would speak/read/write English. All the "Wrong Way" signs are printed in English.

I agree, Ace, English is this country's language. It's deplorable that the second choice for so many phone and message systems in the USA is English.

I might add (before the flame throwers crank up) that I am not xenophobic or anti-immigration. I am very pro LEGAL immigration. Legal immigrants who WANT to live in the United States and assimilate into our culture and country are welcome. But they can't accomplish assimilation into the land of their "dreams" by refusing to speak English. If they want to live in an exclusively Spanish-speaking culture, they should return to such a country. And, part of assimilation into the USA is speaking English, becoming citizens through legal process, and NOT running around waving their old flag when they want to demand MORE freebies from our government. Millions of honest, hard-working, wonderful immigrants from many countries have done it the right way for generations.

I am anti-illegal immigration, just as I am anti-burglary, anti-trespassing, and anti-other criminal activity.

As an aside, we've had a number of 'wrong-way' head-on crashes on our interstate highways (almost one or two each week for months), wherein drivers were traveling the wrong way at freeway speeds and clobbered innocent drivers. An inordinate percentage were illegal immigrants, many of whom were intoxicated and some of whom had been deported multiple times before. None of them would speak/read/write English. All the "Wrong Way" signs are printed in English.

I find this statement to be innacurate, with a few other statements made on this post. However there have been a large number of wrong way crashes here in the Valley. Without a doubt causing some horrific personal tragedies. Beginning on May 12th Raul Silva Corona an Illegal Immigrant that had been deported before.Crashed into Officer Brandon Mendoza, on his way home after his shift for the Mesa Police Department killing both drivers. From that point just 5 days later,on may 18th Patricia Murphy was in a wrong way driver incident to My knowledge not an Illegal Immigrant. On June 22nd a 47 Year old Valley Man was in a wrong way Accident. To My knowledge not an Illegal Immigrant, On July 15th Erin May Corona was involved in a wrong way driver incident. To My knowledge not an Illegal Immigrant, and not related to Raul. July 24th Shawna Ray Bedonie was in a wrong way driver incident. To My knowledge not an Illegal Immigrant. On July 31st A Man in his 60's was involved in a wrong way incident. To My knowledge he was not an Illegal Immigrant. No other information was provided on Him by the News Media who does, a fairly good Job at describing what is occuring at the time, and would have Been notified by the Police Agency if these were in fact Illegal Immigrant caused Accidents.

As I stated Before these wrong way Driver crashes caused Horrific Personal tragedies, Loss of life because someone was High on drugs, or Drunk, then decided to get in to their car.

To make a Statement that, "An inordinate percentage were Illegal Immigrants" is Absurd to Me, when Niether the Police, Or News Media indicated that this was the case.

Edited September 15, 2014 by my80malibu

[Danno]

Gabe, I can't respond fully to your remarks here because any comprehensive discussion here would be deemed "political" even though not meant to be political in nature.

However, even if only two out of the six you cited were illegal immigrants it would be an 'inordinate percentage' when comparing the number of unlicensed non-citizen transient drivers (or whatever term would be acceptable when describing people who did not immigrate legally) to the number of legal, licensed drivers in Arizona. The population of Arizona is 7.2 million. There are estimated to be 400,000-500,000 illegal immigrants in Arizona, or expressed as a percentage, approximately 6%. Yet, at least 33% (2 of 6) of the examples of head-on, wrong way collisions involved non-English speaking/reading/writing and possibly illegal immigrants. That's what I meant by an inordinate percentage.

And, regardless of immigration status, the key is those who drive but are unable to read highway signage because they are foreigners who refuse to learn English.

But you do call to mind a good distinction: There are also many people in Arizona who refuse to speak/read/write English but brandish the flags of foreign countries and refuse to assimilate yet still expect and demand to collect US benefits, and yet may be here somehow legally either by amnesty or anchor 'citizenship' or overstaying visas. I did not mean to imply at all that every non-English speaker was an illegal immigrant or 'undocumented worker' or whatever euphemism is the term du jour. If anyone got that impression, they were mistaken and I'm sorry it was unclear.

And, neither police agencies nor the mainstream news media (especially) are going to draw public correlations to 'illegal immigrants.' It is not politically correct. Law enforcement/public agencies are too afraid of the public relations backlash, and it's all part of the news media's social agenda to downplay any such observations, regardless.

Edited September 15, 2014 by Danno